Tour de France 2012: Cav wins in Paris – Bradley Wiggins wins Tour

Mark Cavendish gained his fourth successive stage victory on the Champs-Élysées this afternoon. Cav went for a long sprint and held everyone else off, although it was a bit closer than some of his previous Parisian vistories. Mark is the first world race champion to win the final stage of the Tour in Paris.

First 8 on the Champs-Élysées: Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, Matthew Goss, Juan José Haedo, Kris Boekmans, Gregory Henderson, Borut Bozic and André Griepel. This win takes Mark Cavendish's total stage wins to 23. Only three riders have won more stages – Eddy Merckx (34), Bernard Hinault (28) and André Leducq (25). See here.  

In the bunch behind Cav, Bradley Wiggins safely crossed the finishing line to be the first Briton to win the Tour de France in the 99th edition with Chris Froome in second place. Fantastic achievement and a remarkable team effort!  

Final race standings.

2012 Tour de France: Bradley Wiggins' coronation + win No 23 for Cav?

The Tour's short final stage – 120K from Rambouillet to the Champs Élysée – is now largely a procession with no further attacks on the Yellow Jersey. The racing only starts once the riders reach the Champs Élysée, where the race customarily finishes in a bunch sprint. Assuming that the Sky train is in full working order another victory for Mark Cavendish looks more than probable. What a great double with Bradley Wiggins' confirmation (barring accidents) as winner of the 2012 Tour de France this would be! 

Cav has been involved in just three bunch sprints this year. He has won two – Tournai and Brive – but lost out to Griepel at Saint-Quentin, which was a tough uphill finish and came the day after Cav had been involved in a crash on the approach to Rouen. In the intermediate sprints that he contested, Cav was also the fastest and, to date, Peter Sagan hasn't managed to beat him in a sprint.

Can Mark Cavendish make it four wins in a row in Paris or will André Griepel or Peter Sagan or Matthew Goss spoil Sky's party? We will soon know! 

Meanwhile here is a great footage with very evocative French commentary of the end of Stage 18 and Cav's win in Brive. 


Also audio of Bradley Wiggins' press conference yesterday.    

   

2012 Tour de France: Bradley Wiggins 1st and Chris Froome 2nd

Bradley Wiggins confirmed this afternoon that he will be the first Briton to win the Tour de France by riding very impressively to win the time trial stage from Bonneval to Chartres. Chris Froome underlined the dominance of Sky with second place. Wiggins demonstrated that he was the strongest rider overall in this year's Tour.

Bradley scorched around the 53.5K course in 1.04.13 followed by Chris Froome 1.16 back with long time leader Luis-Leon Sanchez, who did a fine ride, holding on to third 1.50 back on Wiggins. The next two riders were Peter Velits on 2.02 and Richie Porte, another Sky rider, on 2.25. Cadel Evans had another miserable day finishing 5.54 down. It looked halfway through that he might lose even more but was able to pull himself together in the second part. 

Overall Bradley Wiggins now leads Chris Froome by 3.21 followed by Vincenzo Nibali on 6.19, Jurgen Van den Broeck on 10.15, Tejay Van Garderen (11.04), Haimar Zubeldia (15.43), Cadel Evans (15.51), Pierre Rolland (16.31), Janex Brajkovic (16.38) and young Thibaut Pinot holding on to his 10th place at 17.17.  

Current race standings.

   

2012 Tour de France: Time Trial – Bonneval to Chartres

Flat profile of 19th stage across the Beauce

Apart from the sprint on the Champs Élysées in Paris tomorrow, this is the last serious stage and then only likely to be serious for the leading riders. The route is an arc through the Beauce, the flat, grain growing area to the south of Paris, from Bonneval to the Chartres with its landmark cathedral. The route passes through Illiers Combray, where French writer Marcel Proust spent many a childhood holiday. Memories that were later used in his À la recherche du temps perdu (In search of lost time).

Riders wanting to maintain or improve their overall standing will edit Proust's title to In search of gaining time. The course is virtually dead flat so will suit time trial specialists like Bradley Wiggins. The only potential difficulty is the wind but the forecast is for a light wind (10K) from the north west, so this should be behind the riders for most of the course with only the first kilometres possibly into it – perhaps as far as Illiers-Combray. It shouldn't be much of an inconvenience. 

I expect Bradley Wiggins to win the stage, especially if his form is anything like what it was in the first time trial. He looked pretty spritely leading out Mark Cavendish yesterday. Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin, who would have provide opposition, are no longer in the race. I also expect Chris Froome to take second place with perhaps Tejay Van Garderen in third.  

Wiggins appears from his Guardian column to be determined to finish the Tour strongly and will want to show that he is the strongest rider.   

Extract from Bradley Wiggins' column in the Guardian: 

'As it is now, I should be able to go out with no fear, nothing riding on the race other than my personal need to put a good performance together. It's not as if I'm looking to make up time on someone to win the yellow jersey or as if I need worry about losing time. I've done it hundreds of times: the pre-time-trial meal, the warm-up, pulling on the skinsuit, rolling down the start ramp. So I want to enjoy it, and try to finish the job off in style.'

I think there will be few changes in the leading places. Vincenzo Nibali is over three minutes ahead of Jurgen Van den Broeck.The latter will have to make sure he does a decent ride, otherwise Van Garderen might overtake him. It will be a major surprise if Nibali does not lose time to Froome, who was around 1.30 faster than Nibali in the Besançon trial. Janez Brajkovic (9th) may overtake Pierre Rolland and Haimar Zubeldia and Thibaut Pinot will have to fight off the threat to his 10th place by Nicolas Roche and, possibly, Andréas Klöden.     

Starting time here. First rider off is Jimmy Engoulvent at 12.00 (CET). Bradley Wiggins will be last off at 16.33. As La Lanterne Rouge, Engoulvent will have to make sure he doesn't go 45 seconds faster than the second to last rider, Jan Ghyselinck, otherwise he will lose his last place. Jimmy is 3 hours 49 minutes and 9 seconds behind Wiggins. 
Keep up with riders' times here. 


News flash 13.00 (BST): Despite a valiant try from Tyler Farrar to grab back the Lanterne Rouge spot by finishing 2.20 mins behind Jimmy Engoulvent, the time gap was not big enough to take the honour away from Jimmy. 


Despite the forecast there is apparently a headwind on the course.

2012 Tour de France: Alejandro Valverde wins stage Wiggins almost guaranteed to win in Paris

Alejandro Valverde hung on for a stage win at Peyragudes by just 19 seconds from Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins. Indeed if Froome hadn't been under team orders to stay with Bradley it is very likely that Froome would have caught the tiring Spaniard before the line. This is Valverde's first major win since returning from suspension for doping.  

Bradley Wiggins now looks virtually assured to win the Tour with Chris Froome in second place as the two Sky riders again put time into all of their rivals with Vincenzo Nibali cracking a little on the final climb. All that remains is a rather lumpy stage tomorrow to Brive le Gaillard, Saturday's time trial, which Wiggins is likely to win and then the procession into Paris on Sunday. Vincenzo Nibali looks pretty secure for third spot on the podium. With one finger crossed what a great achievement by Bradely Wiggins, Chris Froome and the Sky Team!

Bradley Wiggins still leads Chris Froome by 2.05, followed by Vincenzo Nibali (2.41), Jurgen Van den Broeck (5.53), Tejay Van Garderen (8.30), Cadel Evans (9.57), Haimar Zubeldia (10.11 - Haimar lost time today slipping behind Evans, who also lost some time but not so much), Pierre Rolland (10.17), Janez Brajkovic (11.00) and Thibaut Pinot (11.46).

Thomas Voeckler did another great competitive ride today and made sure that he will wear the King of the Mountains Jersey to Paris. Tejay Van Garderen looks to be sure of the White Jersey too as he has an advantage of more than three minutes from Thibaut Pinot.   

Race positions here.  

2012 Tour de France: intriguing first Pyrenean stage

Today's stage from Limoux to Foix is the first of three critical stages in the Pyrénées. These three stages will be the last real opportunities for the leading contenders to gain time on Bradley Wiggins before next Saturday's time trial. After starting from Limoux – the second sparkling wine town used in this year's Tour – the riders will tackle three categorised climbs within 191K. The Col du Portel (2nd Cat), the Port de Lers (1st Cat) and the tough Mur de Péguère which has some very steep sections – up to 18% – in the second half of the narrow 9.3k climb. 

Wiggins is likely to be attacked on the Mur by Vincenzo Nibali and Cadel Evans, although the top of the climb is nearly 40K from the first in Foix. The Mur climb starts in the little village of Massat, where in the early 80's we found a restaurant that had a cache of reasonably priced 1961 Bordeaux. I remember we chose a 1961 Figeac, which was fantastic, even though it was served in tiny glasses.  

2012 Tour de France: Mâcon to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine

Today's stage in the Jura mountains is the first real mountain stage in this year's Tour and features its first Hors Category climb – the Col du Grand Colombier. The Grand Colombier, which hasn't been used in the Tour before, is a climb of 17.4 kilometres with an average gradient of 7.1% but has some much steeper ramps. Although the top at 1501 metres is not that high compared to some of the high Alps, the climb starts at a low level – 256 metres. 

From the top of the Colombier (43K from the finish) there is a steep descent before another climb – the Col de Richemond (3rd Cat) and a further steep descent down to Bellegarde. However, the finish is uphill rising some 90 metres over the last 3K.

More details of today's stage here. Also a drive up a large part of the col here (scroll down and click on La montée video).

If Cadel Evans, Vincenzo Nibali and Denis Menchov want to get some of the time they have lost to Bradley Wiggins they will surely have to attack today and on tomorrow's very tough but short stage in the Alps. Friday's stage does include two Alpine climbs but they come at the beginning of the stage, so they are a less obvious opportunity. Although the Col du Grand Colombier hasn't been in the Tour before, it was in this year's Dauphiné so Wiggins, Evans, Nibali and others will already be familiar with this long, narrow climb. 

It's going to be a tough day!    


As expected Tony Martin abandoned the Tour after the time trial – he injured his hand on the first stage in a crash. Matthew Lloyd has also abandoned following injuries from a crash on Stage 8 and Rémy Di Gregorio is being questioned by police in Marseilles and has been suspended by his Cofidis team

Other news 

Lance Armstrong has refiled his complaint against the USADA. The original 80 pages has been whittled down to 25 after federal judge Sam Sparks threw out the original submission as being too long.  

Interesting, if rather wordy, article here on riders' power output during mountain stages as well as thoughts on Wiggins' outburst at Sunday's press conference. It highlights that the mountains in the Tour are now being climbed more slowly than they were five ten years ago.    

2012 Tour de France: doping comes to the fore on the rest day

Very sadly on a day when it's a great opportunity to celebrate and look back on the performances of Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and other stars in this year's Tour de France, doping has again reared its ugly head on several fronts. 

French rider Rémy Di Grégorio (Cofidis) was arrested by French police at his hotel in Bourg-en-Bresse on suspicion of being involved in doping and is now in police custody in Marseille for questioning. After yesterday's time trial Di Grégorio was lying 35th – 18.70 minutes down. The police investigation started last June, so it is not clear whether Di Grégorio was arrested for past offences or whether he continued to dope while on this year's Tour. There are suggestions that a call to a dealer may have been intercepted by the police. Di Grégorio has been suspended by Cofidis and will be fired if he has been involved in doping. Di Grégorio previously rode for Astana. Cofidis will be staying in the race. 

Meanwhile the Lance Armstrong case continues to make waves. Yesterday Armstrong's lawyers tried without to stop the USADA action: 

Lance Armstrong has launched a legal action against USADA. Story here.

The Judge dismissed Armstong's action but he may file again within 20 days. Story here. Judge threw out the case as an over-long rant (80 pages).

Today the USADA has announced the imposition of life-time bans on Dr Michele Ferrari, Dr Luis Garcia del Mora and José Marti for their anti-doping rule violations in the United States Postal Service (USPS) Cycling Team Doping Conspiracy. Details here. 

The USADA's announcement also says that: 'The other respondents in this case have either asked for and been granted a five-day extension to complete their response, or have requested to move forward with an arbitration hearing'. The others involved in the case are Lance Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, currently team manager of RadioShack, and Pedro Celaya, RadioShack's team doctor. 

**

I hope and trust that cycling has indeed been cleaned up and turned a corner and that Di Grégorio is an isolated rider who does not understand that the sport has changed.   

   

2012 Tour de France: Thibaut Pinot wins stage for France in Switzerland

Much to the delight of the French, 22-year-old Thibaut Pinot gave France their first stage win in this year's Tour in Porrentruy with a brilliant ride through the Jura hills to finish 26 seconds ahead of a small group of the leading riders. Pinot just managed to stay ahead of the Yellow jersey group who closed up on the tough final climb of the day and then on the descent and flat section that followed. Pinot caught Fredrik Kessiakoff, the long time lone breakaway rider, at the top of the last climb. Great to see a young rider – the youngest in the Tour – to get a stage win like this!

Leading places to today's stage:

1. Thibaut Pinot 

2. Cadel Evans                26 secs

3. Tony Gallopin

4. Bradley Wiggins 

5: Vincenzo Nibali

6. Jurgen Van Broeck   

7. Chris Froome

8. Denis Menchov 

9 Haimar Zubeldia  

10. Frank Schleck           30 secs

11. Chris Horner  

The big loser today was Rein Taarmae, who did so well yesterday, but who came in today at 2.21 behind Pinot and lost 1.55 to Wiggins. 

Going into tomorrow's time trial Bradley Wiggins holds onto the Yellow Jersey and will have the advantage of starting last in the trial. There are now only four riders within a minute of Wiggins. Had Jurgen Van den Broeck not had his mechanical problem just before yesterday's main climb, he might well have been up there too. 

Overall - top 10:

1. Bradley Wiggins

2: Cadel Evans                      10 secs

3. Vincenzo Nibali                16  

4. Denis Menchov                 54

5. Haimar Zubeldia               59

6. Chris Froome                  1.32  

7. Maxime Monfort            2.08 

8. Jurgen Van den Broeck   2.11

9. Nicolas Roche                 2.21

10. Rein Taaramae              2.27 

Race standings here.


Sadly Samuel Sanchez, one of Spain's strongest riders and winner of the Mountains jersey last year, was forced to abandon the Tour today following a crash breaking his right wrist and left collarbone. Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui has also abandoned.

2012 Tour de France: Belfort to Porrentruy – short but brutal!

Today's stage in the Jura is only 157.5 kilometres long but it will be potentially tough with seven categorised climbs – starting with a 4th Cat then a 3rd before four 2nd Cat climbs and finishing with a short but very steep 1st Cat climb – Col de la Croix. This final climb is just 3.7 kilometres long but has an average gradient of 9.3% but with one section at 17% and some at 15%. Although the only Cat 1 climb of the day, it is the shortest. The Côte de Maison-Rouge, the third climb, is the longest at 7.9K.  


The top of the Col de la Croix comes at 141.5K. Then there is a short steep descent followed by a flat run to the finish, which along with the first 20K will be virtually the only time when the riders aren't either climbing or descending.    

Col de la Croix – the final sting in a short tough stage

Will this be a chance for other teams to attack Sky today? Or will a breakaway be allowed to stay away to the end? I fancy that Sky will want to keep the pace high in the peloton to stop any of the remaining overall contenders attacking or trying to get some time in hand on Bradley Wiggins before Monday's time trial. Nibali, in particular, will know that if the result of the time trial in the Dauphine is repeated, then he is likely to be two and a half minutes behind Wiggins by Monday night.   

This ought to be an exciting stage!

Update:
Johannes Frohlinger is reported to have abandoned the Tour following injuries sustained in crash on Stage 6 to Metz.


13.45 (BST): Samuel Sanchez involved in crash – out with suspected broken collarbone. 

 

2012 Tour de France: Sagan wins amid crash strewn stage to Metz

The remarkable 22-year-old Peter Sagan claimed his third Tour stage win in today's stage to Metz. He comfortably outsprinted André Griepel, who was on for his third successive stage win. Griepel, however, crashed twice today and his directeur sportive had said that he wouldn't be sprinting today leaving that to his team mate Greg Henderson. However, a big crash in the peloton at 24K from the finish must have changed that. Matt Goss was third and Kenny van Hummel was fourth. 

This crash held up a number of possible overall contenders and also Mark Cavendish, who again missed out on a sprint that might well have suited him. Although none of the big favourites were affected, following the crash there were some big  losses:

2.09: Frank Schleck, Janez Brajokovic, Michele Scaponi, Edvard Boasson Hagen and Alejandro Valverde 

3.31: Robert Gesink

13.24: Ryder Hesjedal (winner of the Giro) and Irish rider Daniel Martin


Following the crash Mikel Astarloza, Tom Danielson, Hubert Dupont (broken arm), Oscar Freire, Wout Poels (three cracked ribs and other injuries), Amets Txurruka, Davide Vignano and Martin Wynants are reported to have abandoned the Tour. Incredibly Wynants completed the stage with apparently two broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Whether this was a sensible thing to do, it does put the antics of football's drama queens into stark contrast! Also reports that Ryder Hesjedal and Johan Vansummeren may not be able to continue. 

Fabian Cancellara still leads overall by seven seconds from Bradley Wiggins and Sylvain Chavanel, followed by Tejay Van Garderen (10 secs), Denis Menchov (13), Cadel Evans (17), Vincenzo Nibali  (18), Peter Sagan and Andréas Klöden (19), and Maxime Monfort (22). In the Green Jersey competition Peter Sagan now has 209 points followed by Matt Goss on 178. 

Race standings here.  

  

2012 Tour de France: Rouen to Saint-Quentin: flat stage to be overshadowed by Lance Armstrong news

Today's 196.5 kilometre flat stage from Rouen to Saint-Quentin should provide Mark Cavendish an opportunity to make up for the possible stage win he missed in Rouen yesterday due to the mass crash within the last three kilometres. There are no classified climbs. It looks like the finish is slightly uphill rising 28 metres over the last kilometre with the last corner 1300 metres from the finishing line. There should be no change to the overall standing, although the weather might play a part with thundery showers forecast accompanied by gusts up to 65K.

The stage will surely be overshadowed by the breaking news naming the six people who have testified against Lance Armstrong. This includes four of Armstrong's former team mates: George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie. The four are reported to have confessed to doping and will be banned from racing for six months from the start of the 2013 season. This means that they can continue riding the Tour de France. They had apparently recently withdrawn from the Olympics. Jonathan Vaughters, current manager of Garmin-Sharp, is also said to have testified against Armstrong. The story was broken by De Telegraaf. If correct the fact that Hincapie and Leipheimer have testified against Armstrong looks decidedly damaging, although Armstrong's lawyers are likely to point to the delayed six months suspensions.  

Hincapie, who is competing in his 17th Tour de France, is currently riding in support of Cadel Evans, last year's Tour winner. 

Jonathan Vaughters has denied on Twitter that any of his riders – Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie now ride for Garmin – have been given a six month suspension. See also. Hincapie is reported to have declined to comment. Cyclingnews now has a comment by Travis Tygart, head of the USADA, here, while Lance Armstrong's reaction is here. Interesting and thought-provoking article – Lance Armstrong: the end by Edward Pickering in Cycle Sport online here. Interesting to see which parts of the story are being denied and which parts aren't and by whom!  


Update@14.45: Mark Cavendish wins the bunch intermediate sprint picking up 11 points after the four breakaways had taken the major spoils. Peter Sagan added another 8 points. Hope we get a sprint at the end without crashes today.     

 

2012 Tour de France goes to the seaside

Today the 2012 Tour will take a 100K jaunt along the seaside from Le Tréport to Fécamp passing through Dieppe, although there won't be much time to relax with bucket and spade as the route will be relatively lumpy with a succession of chalk hills to climb and descend. At Frécamp the riders head inland for Rouen for a very likely bunch sprint.

There is a total of 214K today from Abbeville to Rouen with four 4th Category climbs – the last one comes at 143K – just after the intermediate sprint in Fécamp. The forecast looks benign with sunshine and cloud, temperatures in the early 20s and a light wind blowing off the land. The riders had better make the most of this as tomorrow's forecast is for heavy, local thundery showers with gusts up to 65 k/h.  

There will be the usual contenders for the sprint with the probable exception of Marcel Kittel who has been suffering at the rear of the race over the last couple of days. Mark Cavendish is likely to have to go freelance again today, especially as Sky lost one of their riders – Sivtsov – yesterday. Cav, however, has shown on a number of occasions that he can win without a train to help him so he might today move up to 22 stages wins equal with sprinter André Darrigade. Doubtless André Griepel will be determined not to let this happen! Tyler Farrar will hope he can repeat his Independence Day win of last year on this 4th July.

It remains to be seen whether the redoubtable Michael Morkov, leader of the Mountains Jersey, will manage to get into a breakaway today for the fourth successive day to claim a few more climbing points. If he does it will be a surprise as he looked pretty well cooked towards the end of yesterday's stage.  

I doubt if there will be any change overall. I would expect Cancellara to keep Yellow until the race gets to the Vosges on Saturday as the stages on Thursday and Friday are relatively flat. 

15.45: Update: forecasters have got it wrong, rain forecast for later today has arrived with the peloton going through showers. Sunshine and showers – hope it is dry for the finish.     

2012 Tour de France: Stage 3 (Orchies to Boulogne) – lumpy and difficult

Menetou-Salon: decorated café for passage of 2009 Tour 

If anyone thinks that all northern France is flat then the second half of today's stage will put them right. The first 95 kilometres from Orchies to Boulogne is flat but then it starts to get 

Drive along the A16 autoroute from Calais to Boulogne and you will see the battle ground for today's stage. There are six classified climbs in the last 65 kilometres – four are 4th category and two are 3rd category. All are short, sharp climbs and five of them come within the last 35 km. The finish in the centre of Boulogne is at the end of a 700 metre climb with an average gradient of 7.4%. 

I think this is potentially one of the toughest early stages – une petite bête! –  in the Tour for some years and if some riders really go for it there could be real problems for some of the favourites. The Tour won't won here but I will be very surprised if some favourites do not find their chances considerably dented. Some commentators have focused on the finish but the damage I think is more likely to have been done before then on this succession of short, sharp climbs on narrow roads. I will be very surprised if the whole peloton is together at the start of the last climb. 

The stage should suit 'puncheurs' like Philippe Gilbert, Peter Sagan (a repeat of his Stage One victory?), Fabian Cancellara, Sylvain Chavanel, Simon Gerrans and others. It should suit Cadel Evans who will doubtless want to test Bradley Wiggins.

The intermediate sprint comes at 119 km at the beginning of the lumpier part of the stage but before the classified hills. 

Promises to be an exciting last 35 km today!     

   

2012 Tour de France: Brilliant win by Mark Cavendish takes him to 21 in total

Mark Cavendish once again showed in Tournai that he doesn't need a big train to get stage wins. He stayed hidden until some 150-200 metres from the finish having latched onto Griepel's wheel. Then launched himself to win by half a wheel. Once again Mark proved that he has the temperament for the big race. 

In an interview immediately after his win Mark described himself as a 'bonus rider' in Team Sky so there 'was no pressure on him'. Some bonus rider! 

This win takes Mark Cavendish's overall Tour de France stage wins to an amazing 21 – now a clear sixth in the list.  Previously he was tied on 20 with Nicolas Frantz – only one less victory less than Lance Armstong and André Darrigade, a French sprinter. Another 13 stage wins will take him equal to the great Eddy Merckx. 

As expected Fabian Cancellara keeps the Yellow Jersey, while Peter Sagan, who finished sixth, takes over the Green jersey with 78 points but with Cavendish now up into second spot with 63 points. Tomorrow's lumpy stage finish, however, is more likely to suit Sagan than Mark.  

Stage classification here.     


Overall list of stage winners updated here.

2012 Tour de France: Stage 2: Visé - Tournai: a must for the sprinters

2010: Tour banner in Pauillac 

Today the Tour traverses much of Belgium heading west from Visé to Tournai towards France. Apart from a Category 4 climb at 82 kilometres, it is a flat stage (207 km) that the sprinters will be determined should end in a bunch sprint as tomorrow's lumpy finish around the hills of Boulogne certainly won't suit the pure sprinters. 

In previous years I would have had Mark Cavendish as the big favourite for such stage. However, he currently appears not to be as fast as previously having lost a little weight in preparation for the Olympics. He recently won the Ster ZLM Toer GP Jan van Heeswijk his first overall stage race win but didn't win any of the individual stages. Also he is no longer in a team that is dedicated to him as HTTC was. Now Sky's priority must be Bradley Wiggins winning the race overall. Equally Mark has won stages without the assistance of a train in the past through his speed, positioning and bike handling. 

If not Cavendish then there are a number of candidates including André Griepel, Tyler Farrar, Matthew Goss, Mark Renshaw (previously Mark Cavendish's brilliant lead out man), yesterday's winner Peter Sagan and Marcel Kittel. 

The forecast for Tournai this afternoon is cloudy and around 20˚C when the race arrives. 

The good news is that Tony Martin has not been forced to abandon the Tour with a broken collarbone. Instead he has broken his wrist and it is reported that he will try to continue at least until Stage 9 – the first time trial stage on Monday 9th July. A tough call as any stage with a broken wrist will be difficult and painful but tomorrow's tough finish and the mountain stages 7 in the Vosges and 8 in the Jura before the time trial will surely be very difficult. Martin's team mate Jérôme Pineau will also start after being brought down 25 km from yesterday's finish by an amateur photographer, who very foolishly stepped on to the road to get a pic. Sadly far from the first time this has happened! 

Overall, provided there aren't any big crashes that split the field and the favourites stay out of trouble, there shouldn't be any change with Cancellara keeping the Yellow Jersey. Certainly hoping that today will be crash free!

2012 Tour de France: Peter Sagan wins first stage

22-year-old Peter Sagan marked his first ever Tour de France stage with a stage win. Must be very rare for a débutant to win their first stage, although Cancellara may also have done this when he won the Prologue in Liège back in 2004. Looks like an odds-on bet that this won't be the last Tour stage that Sagan wins. Not only did he ride the race brilliantly reacting quickly to Cancellara's attack but he remained cool in the lead up to the sprint content to sit on Fabian's wheel, while the rest of the bunch started to catch up.   

In the steep climb towards the finish he was the only rider able to match Fabian Cancellara's late attack towards the top of the steep climb. On the flatter section that followed he was able to just hang behind Cancellera and then sprint for the win with Edvald Boasson Hagen third. Philippe Gilbert took fourth as the first of the bunch to cross the line. The climb proved to be too steep for Mark Cavendish. Cadel Evans showed well on the early to middle part of the climb but, in the end, was unable to take any time from Bradley Wiggins.

Cancellara holds on to Yellow and all the overall favourites finished in the same time with the exception of Levi Leipheimer, who lost 17 seconds and is now 45 seconds down overall. Also Chris Horner, who had been cited as a possible challenger, lost 55 seconds and is already 1.29 down overall.

Fabian Cancellara holds on to the Green Jersey as well, with 55 points to Sagan's 49, with Boasson Hagen on 42. Cavendish picked up eight points at the intermediate sprint. As Cancellara can't wear both jerseys Sagan will have the Green jersey tomorrow.

As feared there were a number crashes. An early one involved Tony Martin, who had the bad luck to puncture yesterday, today it was worse – a broken collar bone, so he is reported by Eurosport as the first rider to abandon this year's Tour. If this is correct, Martin's ride today is amazing as he finished at the same time as the winner – some 180 k after the crash!  

Latest: mixed message about Tony Martin's condition: in or out – will see tomorrow.

Classifications here.   

2012 Tour de France: 1st Stage: Liège - Seraing – not straightforward!

 

Café du Nord in Menetou-Salon decorated  for passage of Tour de France in 2009

If there are crashes at the wrong time, today's stage could provide some unpleasant surprises for the overall favourites. Hopefully there will be no crashes but the early stages of the Tour tend to be nervous and there have been significant crashes in recent editions. Forecasters appear to be split on the possibility of rain this afternoon: some have just gone for cloudy conditions with a maximum temperature of around 18˚, while others are forecasting light rain with a 40% chance of precipitation.

The riders make a big circle (198 kilometres) heading out from Liège and arriving back in the suburb of Seraing. Their ride takes in five Category 4 climbs and includes very little flat ground until just before the finishing hill starts. The uphill finish into Seraing is unlikley to favour pure sprinters. As Mark Cavendish is lighter than in previous Tours it will be interesting to see whether this will give him a better chance of showing here. 

Last year this sort of finish would have been ideal for Philippe Gilbert, who had a brilliant season in 2011. However, he rode a good prologue coming in just 13 seconds behind Cancellara, so he is certainly one of my contenders for the stage. I think Cancellara will show well – he manages these sorts of short hills well in the Spring classics like the Tour of Flanders and think he could still well be in Yellow tonight. Cadel Evans also does well in these types of uphill finish, so might try to grab a few seconds back from Bradley Wiggins. Peter Sagan is the bookies favourite after stage wins in the Three Days of De Panne, Tirreno-Adriatico, the Tour of Oman, Tour of California (five) and the Tour of Switzerland (four).  

The big priority here for the overall race favourites will be firstly not to crash and secondly not to lose time.     

2012 Tour de France: Fabian Cancellara wins Prologue and is in Yellow

Decorated shop in Pauillac in 2010 for the finish of the time trial from Bordeaux 

Clearly I should have gone for Fabian Cancellara to win the prologue as seven seconds in such a short distance is winning by a mile! Tony Martin might have had second place if he hadn't the rotten misfortune to puncture but even so Cancellara would still have won comfortably. Good ride by Bradley Wiggins down by six seconds on long-time leader Sylvain Chavanel at the half-way stage to take the six seconds back on the second half and just pip Chavanel. However, Chavanel's ride was for me the big surprise of the day. Also fine ride by Denis Menchov – just six seconds behind Wiggins – plus also David Millar only 18 seconds down despite being ill over the last couple of days. 

Wonderful ride, of course, for Cancellara after his injury in the Tour of Flanders but a successful and morale boosting start for Bradley Wiggins taking time on all the overall contenders: Cadel Evans (10 secs), Vincenzo Nibali (11 secs), Levi Leipheimer and Jurgen van den Broeck (21 secs) and Frank Schleck (30 secs). Difficult to see Frank Schleck as a serious contender in this year's edition given his limitations in time trialling as well as descending. Will he even finish the Tour this year?

Young Peter Sagan (22 years old) looked impressive but overcooked it on one of the roundabouts. Clearly youthful over-enthusiasm but he may well feature in the days to come. Whether he will go all the way to Paris is another matter as 22 is young for a Tour ride. 


Fabian Cancellara is now on 8 stage wins equal with Barry Hoban, Marco Pantani, Rudi Altig among others. List of all time stage winners now updated here.

Tomorrow morning some thoughts on the far from easy first full stage.      

2012 Tour de France: the Prologue

Little time for a bottle of red during the Prologue! 

At 14.00 (CET) Tom Veelers will head down the ramp and be the first rider to start the short, full-out 6.4 kilometre ride through the streets of Liège. The course is virtually flat with four roundabouts to negotiate – two which should be possible to sweep through as long as it stays dry and two with 180˚ turns. The forecast this afternoon is overcast around 21˚C with a wind speed of 30K veering from the south to south west during the afternoon. This may make the final kilometre or so particularly tough.

Riders will follow Veelers at one minute intervals until the last man sets off, the 198th rider – Cadel Evans as last year's Tour winner – at 17.17. Most of the favourites for the Prologue are towards the end: Dave Zabriskie (16.49), Peter Sagan (16.50 – the very promising young rider), Tony Martin (16.58), Denis Menchov (17.04), Jurgen van den Broeck (17.06 – Georges Meekers's tip for yellow), Bradley Wiggins (17.07), Fabian Cancellara (17.16 – Fabian won his first Tour stage, the 2004 Prologue, here in Liège) followed by last man Evans. Frank Schleck is off at 16.54 – how much time will he lose?     

My guess for the winner: I'll play safe and go for either Tony Martin or Fabian Cancellara with Martin my marginal favourite, although it would be good to see Cancellara repeat his 2004 triumph and get Yellow for the first full stage. I will be surprised if Evans and Wiggins are far behind. 


Details of where you can find live coverage here on steephillTV.

Also Le Journal du Tour.

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Multiple Tour winner, Lance Armstrong, has been formally charged with doping between 1999 and 2011. Details here.