Cadel Evans Will win the Tour De France

Cavendish wins 5, 8, 12 and now Stage 13. Go Columbia, number 43.

Stage 13 Results

1 Mark Cavendish - Columbia
2 Robbie McEwen - Silence-Lotto
3 Romain Feillu - Agritubel
4 Heinrich Haussler - Gerolsteiner
5 Oscar Freire - Rabobank

Awesome rider somersault in this stage. He practices his 'throw'. But he does it vertically!

(pity the poor roadway sign).

Great photo of the finish

Cadel still leads Schleck by 1 second. Not surprising. Saturday will not be a determining stage.

From the French tour site www.letour.fr...

Stage 14 Nîmes Digne-les-Bains

Sunday, Stage 15 Embrun to Prato Nevoso will split the field and shake up the GC standings with one HC climb and an uphill finish, I predict (easy guess)

[edit on 18-7-2008 by Badge01]

Just a reminder, the next three days will be long ones for Tour Fans for the exciting Mountain Stages in the Alps. OR NOT!?

Hmm, they lied to me...looking at the schedule.

The early days are Sunday (7amEDT), Tue (6:30amEDT), Wed (6:30amEDT),
the rest of the Weekdays are 8:30 am EDT as usual (on the East Coast)

Then two early days next weekend.

Stage 14: Saturday, July 19, 2008
Nimes to Digne-les-Bains
8:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage

Stage 15: Sunday, July 20, 2008
Embrun to Prato Nevoso
7:00am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage

Rest Day: Monday, July 21, 2008
Cuneo
8:30am to 11:30am: Re-air of Stage 15 Coverage

Stage 16: Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Cuneo to Jausiers
6:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage

Stage 17: Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Embrun to L'Alpe-d'Huez
6:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage

Stage 18: Thursday, July 24, 2008
Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint - Etienne
8:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage

Stage 19: Friday, July 25, 2008
Roanne to Montiucon
8:30am to 11:30am: LIVE Daily Coverage

Stage 20: Saturday, July 26, 2008
Cerilly to St. - Amand-Montrond
7:30am to 11:30pm: LIVE Daily Coverage

Stage 21: Sunday, July 27, 2008
Etampes to Paris (Champes Elysees)
7:30am to 12:00pm: LIVE Daily Coverage


[edit on 18-7-2008 by Badge01]

reply to post by Badge01

Can't wait for these mountatin stages, especially wenesday's. We are getting these stages early on TV for us 9.30 pm. Cadel is looking good, even if a few GC riders break away an put a minute or two on him he still has saturdays TT to fall back on, or make the win even more decisive, as i am hoping it will be the later. It still makes for great racing all this week. Go Cadel.

How good is Mark Cavendish, i am hearing he will not finish the tour in order to prepare for the Olympics. I hope this is not the case as he would be odds on to take out the Champs Elyessee, and rightly so, as he has absolutely smashed the field and Robbie, Thor and co. have not been close at all. Although in defense of Robbie etc, team Columbia have just been to strong.

reply to post by atlasastro


Cavendish has said that after today's stage he is going to drop out and concentrate on his recovery and prep for the Olympics. He was very wiped out at the end and could barely give an interview. The team wasn't really able to control the peloton enough to give him a chance and he'd only be 'hurting himself' by trying to survive the next stage with two difficult climbs and an uphill finish.

I see your point, but I think Mark's strategy is a wise one.

Robbie McEwen will continue on and so will Zabel, and depending on how the race goes, either one of them or even Oscar could win the Stage in Paris.

Yes, I love the mountain stages, living in the 'mountains' myself. My climbing sucks, but there are a few places where I can pretend I'm in the Tour and hammering the peloton, LOL.

I'll be up and ready in about two and a half hours and be glued to the set and cheering the guys on. I love the extended broadcasts and to me Phil and Paul are just the coolest thing since Roger Caras (the guy with the great voice who used to announce the dog shows).

I do think that Cadel has his work cut out for him, since there are three or four really strong riders within striking distance. It all depends on his team and how strong the other teams remain after the tough stages in the first two weeks. I'll be rooting for him, that's for sure.

INCREDIBLE race with a change in the final placements, a super breakaway contention and the major GC contenders battle it out in the second group.

Everyone can be proud of their efforts today, because they all left everything out on the course and nobody can ask more than that.


Results stage 15

1 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Crédit Agricole 4.50.44 (37.77 km/h)
2 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi ...... 0.03
3 Danny Pate (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 ...... 0.10
4 José Luis Arrieta Lujambio (Spa) AG2R La Mondiale ...... 0.55
5 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner .................... ...... 4.03
6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank
7 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne ...... 4.12
8 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank ......... ........... ...... 4.23
9 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank ......... ...... 4.41
10 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle ...... 4.43
11 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas ......... ......... ...... 4.46
12 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi ...... 4.50
13 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto

General classification after stage 15

1 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank ...... 63.57.21
2 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner ......... ..... ...... 0.07
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto ........ ...... ...... 0.08
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank ...... ..... ....... ...... 0.38
5 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle...... 0.39
6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank ...... 0.49
7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia .......... ...... ...... 2.48
8 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale .......... ...... 3.36
9 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne ...... 4.11
10 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi ...... 4.34

Noteworthy efforts:

Simon Gerrands, one of the nicest guys in the Peloton had enough left to do an incredible breakaway sprint to be the 8th Australian to win a Stage in the TdF.

Danny Pate, not really a great climber like Gerrands stayed with them and finished only a few seconds back. Major props to Danny.

Frank and Andy Schleck dropped the Hammer Majorus on the group again and again and Andy was just the most courageous rider.

Menchov kissed the pavement on a slippery turn yet got back up and ended up in the front breakaway group from the Yellow jersery group. Stunning performance for the Russian rider.

Cadel also gutted it out and though he turned the jersey over, he's only 8 seconds back.

Christian VanDV also did a great ride top 10 in the mountains and remarked that Nature tried to alternately freeze and fry all the riders.

I could go on and on and if I missed anyone, sorry.

Super stage.

Rest day tomorrow (all the riders hate those)

Stage 16 will be a great stage two mountains, but a down hill finish.


Stage 17 another long day and a big mountain stage.


Whew! That Tour De France!


[edit on 20-7-2008 by Badge01]

reply to post by Badge01

How was the decent from yesterdays last mountain climb, Menchov could not keep up with the GC gunch and lost 40 odd seconds, unbelievablly fast decent. If Cadel can hng on to Schleck, Sastre, Menchov and Co. he stands a great chance of taking out the Tour in Saturdays TT. GO CADEL. Just one more stage.
How good was Simon Gerrans win the other day. Gerrans used to live next door to Australian cycling great Phil Anderson(the first aussie to wear yellow), who suggested Simon take up cycling to help recover from a motorcycling accident......who would have thought that years later Simon would be claiming a stage in Le Tour, what a great story.


Huge stage tonight, Go Cadel.

reply to post by atlasastro


Couldn't believe how badly Menchov was descending. He looked like he either lost his nerve, or forgot how to fly downhill. He was missing all the proper lines and was riding like a shlub.

Guess you noticed they added a body--surfing event to Stage 16. I gave Augustyn a 5.5. He forgot his Shimano carbon flyrod, needed to catch the bike before it slid down into the valley.









[edit on 23-7-2008 by Badge01]

OK, was that an exciting stage or what?

Phil and Paul are surely hoarse tonight.

The big question is, did they pick the right guy and did they burn Frank Schleck and his brother, Andy's whole book of matches to do so.

Thing is, Carlos Sastre is a much better ITT-er than Schleck.

So, it might work for CSC.

I hope Frank and Andy get most combative riders today. (=courageous and fighting hard).

Some say that Carlos should have attacked and burned Cadel to a crisp and let Frank win at Alp d' Huez.

We shall see.


At any rate a big win for the fans and viewers. Six hours of all you can eat cycling and not a dull moment!

After last nights riding it is going to hard on Cadel if no one around him wants to help from the other teams. CSC is so strong on the mountains it's not even funny.

1min 35sec is not alot in the Tour but he would not want them to get much further that, Cadel's team needs to step up and help him in the remainding stages if he is to have a chance.

Does anyone know how long Cadel has left on his contract with SIL/LOTTO because he needs to have a better team around him if he is to take another Tour if he wins this one.

Go Cadel do it for the Aussies.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie Oi,Oi,Oi.

Also don't forget he is one of the farvourites for gold at the olympics as the course will suit him and he is one of the few riders to have had a chance of going over the course already.

reply to post by cnm1976


Good points. CSC is going to see that Cadel is so burnt by today's stage and if not, by tomorrow's that he won't have the legs to ITT. That course is a long, tough ride, and hard to go 30mph by yourself for an hour. It's not very hilly and favors a power rider over a skinny climber.

CSC is going to take this Tour, sadly, because Cadel has been courageous. Your comments about his team are spot on.

However, how about those Schleck brothers! They're making the Tour, imo.

Thanks for the post in this rather lonely thread.

Today:


Stage 19 Friday


Stage 20 (ITT) Saturday


Stage 21 (Paris) Sunday

reply to post by Badge01


The Schkeck boys are a big revelation for this tour, This is what we have to look forward to in the future of the tour,along with Cole outstandig work. Sastre lost 1min 16 to Cadel in the first TT stage. I think Cadel can Pull that back on Saturday. I think Sastre left his attack too late, especially with how isolated Cadel was, even if an early attack failed it left CSC with Schleck as an option rather than wasting him to set Sastre up. Lets not forget Stuie Ogrady and Big Yens smashing themeselves yet again for CSC. What a stage though, lived up to the hype.


I am going to call it now and say Cadel will put 20+ seconds on Carlos over the 53km ITT on saturday to win the tour. But you never know what a Yellow jersey can do to a rider, and Sastre will heve to ride like he has never done so before.
Go Cadel.



[edit on 24-7-2008 by atlasastro]

Originally posted by atlasastro
reply to post by Badge01

 

The Schkeck boys are a big revelation for this tour, This is what we have to look forward to in the future of the tour,along with Cole outstandig work. Sastre lost 1min 16 to Cadel in the first TT stage. I think Cadel can Pull that back on Saturday. I think Sastre left his attack too late, especially with how isolated Cadel was, even if an early attack failed it left CSC with Schleck as an option rather than wasting him to set Sastre up. Lets not forget Stuie Ogrady and Big Yens smashing themeselves yet again for CSC. What a stage though, lived up to the hype.

I am going to call it now and say Cadel will put 20+ seconds on Carlos over the 53km ITT on saturday to win the tour. But you never know what a Yellow jersey can do to a rider, and Sastre will heve to ride like he has never done so before.
Go Cadel.

Might even be closer than that but I doubt it. If Sastre loses to Cadel by 5 seconds, he'll be kicking himself for celebrating at the top of 'd Huez. (I think he'll lose 2 min on the ITT and then come in 26 seconds ahead of Sastre for the Yellow). That will cinch it, since as we both know only a few times has the final stage been anything but a time for photo-ops and champagne then a hard sprinter's contest on the cobblestones.

I mean is Carlos retarded or just stupid?

Everyone else is red-lining and he's sitting up and zipping his jersey and waving and looking around and 5 seconds come off the clock until he hits the line. In fact more like 8 seconds over doing an all out sprint once he sighted the line.

I hope his Director Sportif smacked him upside the back of the head after that. :bash:

Cadel will win this unless he rides over a TV elecrical cable and breaks his collarbone.

I'd sincerely like to see Robbie get the Champs win in a bunch sprint.

That would be cool, Two Aussies on the Podium. I'm American but they're two of my fav riders, showing that with cycling we truly transcend nationality and petty boundaries.

Since I haven't thanked you before, thanks so much hanging out on this thread and even starting it, giving me a 'home' during the tour. (I hope my taking it over didn't offend you or put you off. )



[edit on 24-7-2008 by Badge01]

reply to post by atlasastro


Thanks for making me feel welcomed.

I read online today that the CSC team car being driven by the father of the Schleck brothers was pulled over 19km into the stage last night ans was searched for some time but I have not heard anything more about it not only that while the Tour stop in Italy the police raided there rooms. Now I'm no expert but the Tour organizers had said before the Tour they were looking carefully at at least 10 riders because of test results that were a bit odd maybe some of the riders in CSC are these riders.

Cadel lost no time last night which puts him in a strong position.

I don't believe CSC can do anymore to help their top riders as SIL/LOTTO can out do them on a flat stage and help Cadel if they wanted to. Cadel is also a brillant TT and is the reason he is still the favourite to win.

Can't wait for the TT it will be one of the most exciting races in the history of the Tour and no doubt there will be many people watching it in the early hours of the morning to see our man come out on top.

The only thing that may happen is that if Cadel takes the Yellow on the TT with only a few seconds lead that CSC are the type of team to race on the last day even though there is a gentlemans agreement that the Tour don't race until the end for the sprinters.

Mcwen words were Team CSC have done everthing that they could do and now they are crapping themselves with the TT coming up.

Originally posted by cnm1976
Mcwen words were Team CSC have done everthing that they could do and now they are crapping themselves with the TT coming up.

McEwen is just stirring up 'stuff', but good for him - psychological warfare, eh?

I think there's a couple strategies left where someone on CSC could use today's stage to make a breakaway, or run the peloton so hard that Cadel's legs get burned (of course that affects Carlos, too).

How about having Jens Voight go in the breakaway, then wait for Carlos on the last mountain and pull him over the top and get some seconds on Cadel? IDK, I follow racing but as a rider I'm strictly recreational now.

edit: warefare, lol.

[edit on 25-7-2008 by Badge01]

Originally posted by cnm1976
Mcwen words were Team CSC have done everthing that they could do and now they are crapping themselves with the TT coming up.

Hey Cam,
LOL, thats Robbie for you, his good friend and fellow aussie is Stuart O'grady, who is on CSC, Scott Sunderland, a CSC team member is also an Australian, I think Robie was having a cheeky shot at his mates. I just saw an interview with Johan Bruyneel, he thinks Cadel is a spent force and Carlos Sastre will not lose to him in the TT. I think Johan is trying to cover for his tactical error in the Alps. But only time will tell.

[edit on 25-7-2008 by atlasastro]

Originally posted by Badge01



I mean is Carlos retarded or just stupid?

Everyone else is red-lining and he's sitting up and zipping his jersey and waving and looking around and 5 seconds come off the clock until he hits the line. In fact more like 8 seconds over doing an all out sprint once he sighted the line.

I know, i noticed that too, i remember watching Lance Armstrong Win similar stages and he was out of the saddle, head down, pushing for the line.....no celebrations. What was Sastre thinking. I believe his team may have given him bad info over his radio and he may have though Cadel was furthr back, but he had in fact rallied and was pushing the pace to keep in contact and under two minutes to Carlos.

Cadel will win this unless he rides over a TV elecrical cable and breaks his collarbone.

LOL. Ask Matt White(former team postal rider and an Aussie) about that, on his first stage, of his first tour, while riding for Cofidis and practicing for a TT prologue.

I'd sincerely like to see Robbie get the Champs win in a bunch sprint.

That would be cool, Two Aussies on the Podium. I'm American but they're two of my fav riders, showing that with cycling we truly transcend nationality and petty boundaries.

I second that. A better finish i could not imagine.

Since I haven't thanked you before, thanks so much hanging out on this thread and even starting it, giving me a 'home' during the tour. (I hope my taking it over didn't offend you or put you off.

)

Mate, it is I who should be thanking you. I was just so pumped for the tour i thought i had to post something. You have made it into a great little Tour guide, posting stages and results. Giving those (non tragic cyclist like us) with a bit of curiosity a chance to glimpse of what this amazing sport and race is all about if they visit this thread.
Otherwise all they would have got is me Cadeling them to death.LOL.
So thanks very much Badge. I have really enjoyed my tour experience this year thanks to this thead and thanks to you.
Cheers mate

Viva le Thread
Allez Cadel. Go.

Originally posted by Badge01

How about having Jens Voight go in the breakaway, then wait for Carlos on the last mountain and pull him over the top and get some seconds on Cadel? IDK, I follow racing but as a rider I'm strictly recreational now.

This is not that far out an idea badge, Jens won a late stage of the Giro, i think it was 18. Although it was a great solo break away of 30-40 km. I think after the alps though, alot of minor teams will be keen to try and steal a stage before saturdays ITT and the sundays sprinters fest on the Champs Elysees. Also todays stage is a great chance for other sprinters to get a stage without Cavendish to compete against.

reply to post by atlasastro


Yeah, I'm having a treat here messaging with you, mate.

I knew you'd know about the TV cable story.

On the rant on Carlos, I LOVE the guy, I'm just ranting. He's a god to me like almost any pro cyclist.

I'm liking the Bruyneel commentaries and am compiling a list of them which I could U2U to you or something.

This has been a really exciting tour, though many say the riders are not the world's top (b/c they're out on various charges and suspensions). But I don't care, I'm all about riding the bike.

Great break-away today. We'll see how it goes. Two riders are out ahead with 2:42 and 5.6K to go.

168 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux
181 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis

(no spoilers)

Go Robbie, Go Cadel, Go Carlos, Go Jens, Go Erik Zabel!!






[edit on 25-7-2008 by Badge01]